I don’t know if I still have to explain the mechanics, but basically, several filanibloggers have decided to draw lots of anime(s) that has 13 episodes or/and lesser such as OVAs, and we have to blog it, to generate some sort of discussion. I was assigned to post the first entry — and yes I got Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan.

Ugh, what should I talk about this show? I really didn’t expect myself to blog about this show, but here I go with my ramblings.

Anyone who doesn’t have a clue of what Dokuro-chan is would probably give a first impression of it being a typical moe anime, but I’m already giving you a warning because it’s not as simple as that.

I remember reading a funny remark in 4ch stating that Dokuro-chan is superior to Elfen Lied because it didn’t pretended to have a plot. And yes, I see the point because I really didn’t observed a clear plot from the story, rather it was vague to begin with. It’s just a gloss over typical episodes from school life anime combined with a plot twist of an angel from the future.

I actually wanted to talk about “loli” in this post, but I don’t see a strong grasp from that of the show and the main concept I was going to talk about. Also, the idea expressed in the show was absurd because somewhere in the show, the “future” was depicted wherein women stopped aging at the age of 12 — because our protagonist, Sakura Kusakabe, was able to create some sort of a technology to stop the aging of women, in order to create a “Lolicon’s World”. I don’t know why the lolicon joke has partly become a running gag in the anime when I don’t clearly see Sakura being one, or manifesting any symptoms or such… Unless you justify it by having him desiring Dokuro-chan, who is a loli.

Of course, you can just toss this part of the post as one of those common criticisms regarding violence in anime, but this anime possesses one of the themes I really don’t like that much in any anime, which is the idea of violent retribution. As far as some research is concerned, exposure to violence in the media leads to a greater acceptance of real-world violence. I really don’t like gore, but Dokuro-chan was able to incorporate it with humor, making it much more acceptable, which is just wrong! Even though Sakura is ceaselessly being revived, the fact that Dokuro-chan killed him is still there. I would have liked the theme of violence if it does have “rationality” behind it, but the accidents or situations were so far senseless based on what’s being shown. The bludgeoning scene is sometimes even uncalled for.

Then again, anyone could also argue that watching Dokuro-chan won’t really yield any significant effects regarding aggression of a person — or much of the research just overstates the results, without giving light to other factors that contributes to the aggression of the person. Of course, I trust that those who has the courage to watch this has a strong grasp of reality, and will just go for the laughs.

I understand here that they want to generate humor from the accidental ecchi stuff but I think it’s so old school that I don’t really find it entertaining already, the fact that they also decided to make it highly exaggerated through the bludgeoning scene, also throws me off. It also shows repetition, the same flow as what I’ve written just before. There is an accident, then Dokuro-chan will kill Sakura, then revive him again. It’s so boring that you’ll keep encountering this scene for almost every episode.

I really don’t find the fanservice effective in any way as well because it is overruled by the sequential bloody scene, followed by the moe pipirupi chant scene for reviving Sakura, which doesn’t really makes sense anymore, although you’ll get laughs from how it is being executed, especially the bloody hijinks.

My point here is that, this show portrays general lack of common sense which I think would really degenerate your brain, if you become fond of it. I just can’t talk about anything anymore about this show because there is nothing much to talk about, except the issue of violence, which is rather complicated since there are lots of researches that are contrary to each other whether violence in media really contributes in real-world violence. I don’t know how to argue with those things, but one thing is clear to me, the manner of portraying violence in the anime is definitely not for kids, because it doesn’t only involve minor mutilation but also– death(just temporarily though). The perpetrator is only disguised in a cute manner, but she’s still gruesome.

With the way I see things as of now, I doubt I’ll still be interested to take a peek and look what season 2 has to offer (yes, it has).